It is the custom to reward Wikipedia contributors for hard work and due diligence by awarding them a Barnstar. To give the award to someone, just place the image on their talk page (or their awards page), and explain why it was given. If you are sure the barnstar is appropriate, don't be shy!

The barnstar is not unique to Wikipedia. Some years ago, some wiki-based communities began to give their users awards called barn stars, using a star anchor to represent the concept of the shared work experience, as in barn raising. The concept of the barnstar as a Wiki award was created by SunirShah on MeatballWiki.[1][2] Web designers were invited to incorporate a similar barn star design into their project as Easter eggs.[3]

Wiki barnstars were introduced to Wikipedia in December 2003 by MartinHarper.[4] Since then, the concept has become ingrained in the Wikipedia culture. These awards are part of the Kindness Campaign and are meant to promote civility and WikiLove. They are a form of warm fuzzy: they are free to give and they bring joy to the recipient.

While awarding a barnstar, remember to provide relevant text as to why you are awarding it. The following are some of the barnstars and awards currently in use. If you don't feel any of these covers the topics you are concerned with, you can always design your own award (using these examples, if you like). If you have questions, WikiProject Wikipedia Awards is a group of volunteers who help guide these pages.

There are many types of barnstars. Please make sure that your choice is fair and appropriate, which will help prevent over-use. Remember that there are other ways of showing simple appreciation to someone, such as a comment on the user's talk page, and alternative awards such as cookies in Personal user awards.

The Editor's Barnstar is awarded to individuals who display particularly fine decisions in general editing. This is occasionally known as the Exclusionists' Barnstar. Sometimes, expert text removal is the most effective editing.

The Working Wikipedian's Barnstar may be awarded to those who work tirelessly and endlessly on the more laborious or repetitive of Wikipedia tasks.

This barnstar's name can now be gender-specific by supplying 'm' for Man's, 'w' for Woman's or 'n' for Wikipedian's in place of the gender option. Leaving this option blank will first determine if the user has a gender set, and if not, uses the default "Wikipedian's".

The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar may be awarded to those who have prevented Wikipedia from being used for fraudulent purposes, or who have defended Wikipedia against threats not covered by other barnstars. The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar was created after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, when a fraudulent charity tried to take advantage of the widespread media coverage of the article.

Introduced by Alkivar on January 8, 2005. An expansion of the scope of the barnstar was proposed by Pine in December 2011 and was uncontroversial.

The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar may be awarded to those who show great contributions to protecting and reverting attacks of vandalism on Wikipedia. For more information on fighting vandalism, please see Wikipedia:Vandalism.

The Barnstar of Good Humor may be awarded to particularly light-spirited Wikipedians who, by their unshakably good humor, consistently and reliably lighten the mood, defuse conflicts, and generally make Wikipedia a better place to be.

The Half Barnstar is awarded for excellence in cooperation, especially for productive editing together with someone who holds diametrically opposed viewpoints. Both users get one half of the star; when cooperating they hold a full one.

It was thought of in September 2006 by Radiant!, but not actually handed out until April 2007.

The "What a Brilliant Idea!" Barnstar should be awarded to a user who figures out an elegant solution to a particularly burdensome bottleneck or problem, or who identifies a means to improve Wikipedia in a profound way.

The Barnstar of Recovery is awarded to editors who make contributions to articles during their deletion reviews, thus saving the article from deletion. It has the international sign for first aid as its background.

Your Opinion is More Important than You Think BarnstarThe Your Opinion is More Important than You Think Barnstar

This barnstar was created for awarding to Wikipedians who don't realize that something they have said has helped make Wikipedia better. It is suggested, since the recipient of this award does not realize that they have helped, that you inform the recipient what change has come about as a result of whatever it was they said that was so noteworthy.

The Audio Barnstar may be awarded to editors who make a significant contribution to the wiki by creating and/or adding original or rare audio files. Historical recordings, self-made music, self-made examples of sound effects or musical styles, natural sounds, etc.

The All-Around Amazing Barnstar is awarded to editors who are all-around amazing in most—if not all—parts of Wikipedia. These users have exemplified what it means to be a true Renaissance man or woman of Wikipedia, being active in more than one part of the Wikipedia community, and understanding that a true Wikipedian is more than just an editor of articles.

This barnstar was originally created on June 24, 2008 for BranStark by Angel caboodle for his continuing contributions in all aspects of Wikipedia.

The Home-Made Barnstar is awarded to people who do a lot of work in difficult areas and do it well. Recipients are able to think outside the box, the original intention of the WP:IAR principle, and their interventions are always, or almost always effective in resolving or progressing difficulties and disputes.

The Red Link Removal Barnstar may be awarded to editors who show diligence in removing red links in articles by creating new articles, correcting the links to connect to appropriate existing articles or deleting links to articles that should not exist because they do not satisfy Wikipedia:Notability guidelines.

The Admin's Barnstar may be awarded to administrators who made a particularly difficult decision, did a tiresome but needed admin task, cleared some nasty backlog or just to show an administrator that you think they are doing good work in a particular area of "the job" and that their work is appreciated. To be used when other, more specific, barnstars do not apply to the reasons at hand.

Introduced by SoWhy on November 14, 2008, and redesigned by Rectilinium on May 8, 2009.

The Press Barnstar may be awarded to any editor whose contributions to an article were cited by one or more news services off Wikipedia. Alternatively, it may be awarded to a Wikipedian or Wikiproject whose contributions have earned Wikipedia praise from the media. As the focus of this barnstar is off Wikipedia praise it should not be awarded to those who have contributed to internal news services like the Signpost or Wikiproject news letters, nor to those who actively edit articles concerning the press in general.

It may also be used for editors who have done good work in contributing to Journalism-related subjects.

Suggested by TomStar81 and designed by Chamal N February 15, 2009, and introduced February 20, 2009.

The Premium Reviewer Barnstar is awarded to users that have achieved more than three Reviewer Barnstars or are given to users who have diligently reviewed an article or set of articles very closely to ensure its good quality on Wikipedia.

The Running Man Barnstar may be awarded for distinguished efforts in sports-related articles. This barnstar is intended for those who give 110% in order to advance Wikipedia's coverage of the world of sports.

The Oddball Barnstar may be awarded to an editor who creates a particularly fine article regarding a subject that is odd, whimsical, or is otherwise something that one wouldn't expect to find in more traditional encyclopedias.

The Society Barnstar is intended for those whose work advances the general understanding of any given society one may attain by consulting Wikipedia. Introduced on March 23, 2005 by Clockworksoul and designed by grm_wnr.

The Barnstar of High Culture may be awarded to an editor who makes particularly fine culture-related contributions. Introduced on March 23, 2005 by brian0918 and ClockworkSoul, and designed by AllyUnion and brian0918.

The Bio-star is awarded in recognition of exceptional article contributions in the life sciences. This award was proposed by Francisco Valverde on April 1, 2006, and the design was created on May 4, 2006 by LiquidGhoul.

The Disability Barnstar was created to reward hard work and excellence in the improvement or creation of articles relating to disability or other major contributions to WikiProject Disability. Introduced by Dodger67 and designed by Antonu.

The Geography Barnstar may be awarded to an editor who contributes significantly to expand or improve Wikipedia's coverage of Geography. It may also be awarded to those who create a particularly fine article of any given country.

The LGBT Barnstar is awarded to editors who make significant contributions about LGBT-related topics, including homosexuality, bisexuality, transgender; LGBT life and culture; LGBT people, events, and movements; societal issues; and population statistics.

The Fauna Barnstar is awarded to editors who make significant contributions to either wild or domestic animal related articles that expand Wikipedia’s knowledge about various animal species, habitats, behavior/characteristics, endangerment, and population statistics.

The The Environmental Barnstar is awarded to Wikipedians who have made significant contributions towards environment-related articles, raising environmental awareness in Wikipedia, or assisting in Wikipedia:WikiProject Environment.

The Royalty and Nobility Barnstar is awarded to editors who make significant contributions to royalty and nobility related articles that expand Wikipedia’s knowledge about the biographies of people belonging to royalty and/or nobility.

Developed by BolinhasFofas in September 2007, with a major design change in 2008.

Originally created as the Buddha Barnstar in February 2008, this was modified in September 2009 and renamed the Buddhism Barnstar. This barnstar may be awarded to an editor who significantly contributes helpful information about the eastern religion of Buddhism.

The Science Fiction Barnstar may be awarded to those who make outstanding contributions to science fiction articles. Proposed by j@5h+u15y@n, designed and introduced by Sophus Bie on February 10, 2009.

The Space Barnstar may be awarded to those who make outstanding contributions to astronomy and spaceflight articles, including planets, stars, unmanned & manned space missions, launch vehicles, spacecraft, and so on.

The Barnstar Barnstar was created to recognize Wikipedians who have contributed to Wikipedia by creating and awarding barnstars. As of January 2012, this barnstar is made more specific to be the project barnstar for WikiProject Wikipedia Awards.

This award was introduced on December 23, 2005 by Cyde, and the design was modified by Sango123. The description was updated in January 2012 by Pine.

The Excellent User Page Award is given to those who put in that extra effort on their user page, whether in terms of design, writing, or content. If you find a user page that is unusually entertaining, useful, informative, beautiful, or otherwise noteworthy, let them know with this award.

The Commons Ambassador Barnstar is awarded to users who make exceptional contributions to the synergistic relationship of English Wikipedia with Wikimedia Commons by searching through Commons to find suitable pictures to add to English Wikipedia or finding free-use images on English Wikipedia and moving them to Commons.

Suggested by Johntex, designed by Smomo and introduced on March 6, 2007.

The Categorisation Barnstar is to be awarded to users who dedicate themselves to pruning, maintaining and caring for our category structure, helping it to grow, or who devote themselves to categorising articles to better aid our readers.

The WikiProject Barnstar is for users who have done a great job in WikiProjects overall, either A) in a WikiProject that does not have a specific barnstar, or B) someone who makes great strides in improving WikiProjects. This could also be given to a person who starts a very successful WikiProject.

The Barnstar Creator's Barnstar is an award for people who create great barnstars.

Introduced on July 1, 2008 by Meisfunny, and updated on July 15, 2008 by Angel caboodle. Designed by DeadEyeArrow on February 2008 and used for the first time on March 2008. Title was updated by Pine per an uncontroversial proposal in December 2011.

The Exemplary Adoptee Barnstar may be awarded to exemplary candidates currently undergoing adoption by an experienced user through the Adopt-a-User scheme or when the candidate has effectively "graduated."

The Account Creation Barnstar is to be awarded to individuals in recognition of their significant contribution to creating accounts for users at WP:ACC. Account creators are often overlooked and rarely receive any form of acknowledgement for their work, which, at times, can be very repetitive and tedious.

The Reviewer's Barnstar is for users who have been outstanding reviewers of pages with pending changes. It could be given to a new reviewer who hasn't received much attention, though they've been doing everything right.

The Feedback Responder Barnstar is awarded to users who have demonstrated great effort and dedication in responding to feedback on the Feedback Dashboard and/or other related work for the Feedback Dashboard.

Editors are free to use variations as appropriate. Best created by subst: the barnstar of your choice then customizing the layout to suit the purpose. This is just a partial list designed to inspire barnstar creativity. Please consider adding your more creative mixtures of barnstars to this list or to Wikipedia:Personal user awards.

Multiple-barnstars are particularly good for WikiProject awards, where the first barnstar is the Project barnstar and the additional ones are for the specific task. They are also useful in conjunction with The Teamwork Barnstar.

^"MeatballWiki: WikipediaExile". 2003. Archived from the original on 2004-11-08. Retrieved 2013-07-10. Attempting to use Meatball's BarnStar on Wikipedia might help here. I've uploaded it - must add some appropriate text and start awarding it. --MartinHarper